Strange Magic
by pinkskyline
Summary: How did Benny know the spell to smuggle a soul out of Purgatory? Because before he was a vampire, he was a witch. After meeting her great-grandfather and then hearing of his death, Elizabeth looks into the family history and finds an old spell book. This book could bring Benny back, but it could also bring trouble. Dean gets a call to help when things go wrong.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: How Benny could come back! I don't think this is going to be slash, but it will definitely feature heavy Dean/Benny bromance with some slash overtones. This story contains slight spoilers about Crowley in season 9 which I think are pretty minor—it's from the Comic-con preview that was posted on youtube and was what I reckoned was going to happen anyway. However, if you're very strict about such things, beware. **

Dean was fussing around Sam. He could admit it, if not to Sam, then at least to himself.

He hadn't seen Sam as sick as he'd been after he stopped the trials since he'd gone off the blood years ago, before they'd accidently raised Lucifer, and the memories of that merry-go-round did nothing to reassure him this time.

Sam was looking better now, but Dean couldn't quite let go of his worry. Sam was still nowhere near fighting strength.

And Dean was driving Sam _mental_.

Sam, Dean and Kevin had been hiding out in the bunker, with Crowley locked away in the recently discovered dungeon.

Crowley had been uncooperative so far, but Dean imagined he'd talk eventually, when they found something he wanted, or if the right motivation came up. He wasn't too worried about Crowley right at the moment; he was happy the man—demon—creature, whatever—had stopped killing the people they had saved. As far as Dean was concerned, he didn't care if Crowley never said a word, as long as Crowley was unhappy and being kept from doing evil and fulfilling his ambitions.

Kevin and Sam were getting pretty annoyed with Crowley's silence, but Dean thought it was possible they were even more annoyed with Dean's behaviour. He was stir-crazy, fussing over Sam, listening to loud music, and bossing everyone around. He knew he was doing it, but knowing didn't make him stop. He just couldn't seem to help himself.

The call from Elizabeth couldn't have come at a better moment.

When his cell rang he was sitting on his bed listening to records. He lifted the needle and answered the call.

"Dean Winchester," he said.

"Dean? It's Elizabeth. Benny's granddaughter," she said.

Dean mentally noted she had missed a great in there, but said nothing about it. He felt a familiar twinge of guilt and loss in his gut: the same he always felt when he thought about Benny. He reminded himself that Sam had said Benny hadn't wanted to come back from Purgatory. It didn't make Dean feel any better about inadvertently helping his best friend to suicide, though. And if he'd been a good friend to Benny, he wouldn't have wanted to stay dead, would he? If Dean had been there for him, and helped him 'keep his ducks in a row', life probably wouldn't have gotten unbearable for the vampire.

"Dean? You there?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah, Elizabeth," he said. He cleared his throat, tried again. "How can I help you?"

She paused. "I don't know if you can. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Something's wrong with you?" he asked.

There was another pause—this one so long Dean thought for a moment they'd lost the connection. "Can you come here?" she asked finally.

"To Carencro?"

"Yeah, I'm still here at the grill," she said.

"Is there someone there with you? Are you being threatened?" he asked.

"It's not like it was last time. No hunters, no vampires," she said. "I just have this strange feeling that I can't explain that you're the only one who can help me. I don't want to talk about it on the phone. Can you come here?"

"Yeah," Dean said. He did some mental calculations. "I'm in Kansas right now, and I have to do some preparations before I leave. I can probably be there about ten tomorrow night."

"That would be great. Don't get a hotel, you can stay with me," she said. She paused again. "I didn't mean that as a come on—or a—I mean you're a friend, and I've got a sofa."

Dean chuckled softly. "I don't think there's any danger of me seeing you that way. Not now that I know you're Benny's descendant. It's like hitting on a friend's daughter. I'll behave."

"I'll text you the address. See you soon, Dean," she said.

When he hung up the phone he wondered briefly why knowing Elizabeth was Benny's descendent truly made her unappealing to him, but shook away his confusion, thinking her problem, whatever it was, was the perfect thing to get him out of the bunker and out of Sam and Kevin's hair.

He spent a couple of hours making sure the spare car, an old junker, was in working order in case Kevin needed to go out. Dean made sure Kevin had credit cards and ID to match, knew all his numbers, and where to take Sam and what ID to use if he needed to go to the hospital. He hadn't had to so far, but literally, God, or maybe that dick with wings Metatron, only knew what the long term effects of the trials would be on his brother.

He was unprepared for Sam's objections.

"Dean, you shouldn't go into a situation like this without backup," he said.

"I can hunt on my own, Sam. And I don't even know it's a hunt. She was pretty vague about what was wrong with her."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? Dean, I know things have died down since the angels fell, but there's gotta be a lot of angels out there incognito. And we don't even know what happened to Cas. He could have been attacked by angels himself. What if some of the angels have a grudge against you for stopping the apocalypse? What if Naomi comes after you? This is too dangerous."

"Come on, Sam. Let him go. He needs to get out. _We_ need him to get out," Kevin said.

"I'm not going to let my brother do something stupid and dangerous just because he's annoying," Sam said to Kevin.

"I've been doing stupid and dangerous things my whole life. You've never been able to stop me before. Besides, this is just doing a favour for a friend. Not dangerous at all," Dean said.

"Dean, I just told you. It's not Elizabeth that worries me—there's dozens of other reasons that you should stay here," Sam said.

"Sam, your concern is noted. I won't piss off any angels while I'm out of the bunker. As long as Kevin doesn't mind doing the cooking and shopping while I'm gone—"

"—believe me, I love this plan," Kevin put in.

"—I don't think you can stop me," Dean finished. "I promise I'll stay in touch."

Sam sighed. Dean smirked, recognizing Sam's acceptance. He picked up his rucksack and threw it over his shoulder.

Dean felt himself relax as he finally felt the road stretching out in front of his Baby. As much as the Impala felt strange without Sam sitting by his side, just being on the road and driving felt so much better than being in the bunker. The bunker was home—and Dean loved having a room of his own for the first time in forever, and a place to accumulate possessions like normal people did—but he was meant for the open road, and his Baby needed to stretch her legs.

Wheels.

Whatever.

The way she purred along the highway filled Dean with the first real sense of wellbeing he'd felt since the sky had fallen a few weeks before. The angels had caused some major chaos at first, but they seemed to have settled down, some. But then, the Winchesters weren't exactly looking for hunts at the moment. The whole country—hell, the world—could be full of strange occurrences, and they wouldn't know. It was a novel experience, having a place to hide out and lick their wounds, and Dean wasn't sure it was a good thing.

"We're getting too old to let ourselves get complacent—or soft," he murmured to himself.

He figured a hunt would straighten him out—work out the kinks—if nothing else would.

Or whatever this call was.

Elizabeth had made it clear it wasn't a booty call, which was good. Although she was hot. But she was family. _And_ she made pie, or at least dished it out for a living, which was just as good.

But she was Benny's great-granddaughter, and that made her off-limits, if for no other reason than the fact that if Benny ever came back, he'd—well, Dean didn't know what he'd do. They'd almost come to blows when Sam and Martin had accused Benny of killing again, and while it probably wouldn't come to that over Elizabeth, Benny wouldn't trust Dean the same way he always had if Dean had done the nasty with Elizabeth, knowing who she was.

And somehow he'd rather imagine himself and Benny engaged in mortal combat than imagine Benny not trusting him the way he trusted the vampire.

Their friendship was just about perfect; Benny had never let him down and he was damned if he would ever let Benny down any more than he'd already done. Dean blamed himself for Benny's death, but he knew he took responsibility for a lot of things that most people said weren't his fault, and Benny hadn't blamed him for anything. That being said, even if his friend never came back to life, Dean wanted to know that he'd lived up to the faith Benny had in him.

And Benny had died to help guide Sam to safety—and had helped Sam save Bobby from hell. Elizabeth, by virtue of being her great grandfather's descendent, deserved Dean's loyalty the same way Sam did. She was a part of his family—Benny's actions had _made_ her one.

He ate lunch at a diner he knew in Tulsa, and felt his sense of wellbeing growing. He wasn't sure what Elizabeth's problem was—he hadn't said anything to Sam but she'd sounded really odd, and really worried, on the phone—but what couldn't he handle?

He'd do whatever it took to make sure she was okay.

Better than okay. Happy and healthy.

He owed that much to Benny.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I've done some more editing. I just think it's more readable this way. Less exposition, more action. This chapter hasn't changed, I just deleted chapter 2 and put chapter 3 in its place. I think I'm done messing around with it, though. **

_Carencro, Louisiana_

Dean drove up to the eight-story apartment building and parked in Elizabeth's spot, as her text had instructed him to. He got out of the car and walked up four flights of stairs and knocked on her door.

He was a little late, but Elizabeth opened the door so quickly Dean thought the place must either be tiny or she must have been sitting nearby waiting for his knock.

She smiled warmly and opened the door to let him in. "Hi, Dean. Thanks for coming."

Dean walked in and gave the apartment his customary assessing glance. It wasn't huge, but it was neat and clean with some eclectic decorating touches. He saw no obvious danger, nor did he see any obvious reason for her "problem". She did look tired, and those bright blue eyes that reminded him of a certain vampire seemed wary.

Dean took off his jacket and dropped it by his rucksack. "What can I say? We're kind of family."

"I hope so," she said. She looked worried and gestured to her sofa. "You must be tired. Why don't you sit down, and I'll get you some food and a beer."

"Food?" Dean asked, perking up slightly. "I could eat, but you don't have to go to any trouble."

"I brought some pulled pork from the grill and I was going to put you a sandwich together," she said.

Dean smiled, hoping she hadn't forgotten he liked pie.

"I didn't forget you never got to try the pecan. I'll bring you a piece," she said.

"You better watch it, if you keep feeding me like this, I might never leave," Dean said.

"It's nothing but Southern hospitality," Elizabeth said. She handed him an open beer and set the sandwich down on the coffee table in front of him and he tucked in, taking a swing of beer.

"You want to tell me what's wrong while I eat?" Dean asked.

Elizabeth looked hesitant. "You sure you don't want to wait until morning?"

"I don't want anything jumping out at me in the middle of the night. If I come into a situation, I like to do what it is," Dean said.

"Okay," she said. She took a deep breath, and Dean realized she was nervous about telling him what was wrong. "I did something stupid."

"How stupid?" Dean asked.

"I found out that Benny used to be a witch when he was human, and I found his spell book. I got a hold of it, and I tried some spells. I should have known they were real—I mean, Benny was a vampire. I should have known witchcraft would be dangerous," she said.

Dean cringed inwardly while trying to keep his expression neutral. Benny _had_ known a lot of spells, and his being a witch at one point made sense, but he wished this hunt wasn't about witches. He hated witches. The only upside was that he knew that Elizabeth was the witch, and he knew she didn't want to hurt anyone.

At least, he hoped she didn't.

"Exactly what spells did you do? And what happened? Why did you call it dangerous?" Dean asked.

"So you know about witchcraft?" Elizabeth asked. For the first time since Dean had walked into the apartment she seemed to relax, at least a little bit.

"I know a bit. Do you still have the spell book?"

"Sure. I'll go get it," she said. She got up and went into the bedroom, and Dean reflected that this might be the easiest witchcraft intervention of all time. Usually in cases like this he would have to go all over town looking for the witch, and then he'd find out the spell book had been stolen…this might be just fine. Sam would be happy if he was back in the bunker in the next couple of days.

Elizabeth walked in the room and handed him a leather-bound hand-written spell book. He wondered if it was in Benny's handwriting, but as well as he knew the guy, he'd never really seen much of his handwriting so he couldn't tell. Elizabeth probably knew, but Dean imagined it wasn't really important.

"Did you mark the spells you did?" Dean asked.

"Some of them were pretty gross. I didn't do anything that had really exotic ingredients and I didn't do some of the ones that were all, like, about rubbing your bodily fluids on trees and stuff," she said.

"You don't have to tell me witchcraft is gross," Dean said. He looked through the book, finding one he found particularly dangerous. "Did you do this one?" he asked.

"Yeah. I did that one because…well, none of them were working before I did that one. It said it boosted magic powers, so I tried it, and then the other ones fired up like crazy. You have to believe me, Dean, I didn't do any spells to hurt anyone."

"This one—the dedication—it's to dedicate your life and service to a demon. It's—it's really dangerous. A demon might be able to use this to make you hurt people, or use it as permission to possess your body. This is the most dangerous thing in the book," he said.

"It didn't summon a demon or anything," she said.

"Yeah, but you suddenly were able to perform magic that didn't work beforehand. You don't have to dedicate yourself to a demon's service to preform magic, but it makes you a lot more powerful as a witch, and it makes the spells a lot more forgiving—like, the pronunciation doesn't have to be perfect, and you can fudge the ingredients a bit," Dean said.

"So I could have gotten this magic to work without doing the dedication?" she asked.

"Yeah. I mean, maybe some of the spells are meant to be worked by two people, or maybe you didn't have the words right or something, but magic works without demonic help. Sam and I do magic all the time. It's part of the job—and we try to stay away from demons whenever we can."

"Does this mean I'm going to hell?" she asked.

"Dedicating your life to serve a demon isn't the same thing as selling your soul—at least, I don't think it is. We'll talk to a guy—demon, actually—who I know about this to make sure. You didn't even know about this, though, right? So what did you call about? What spell did you do that worried you?"

"I did a couple of spells. They're all sort of vague in what they're all about—I mean, I guess if it was Benny's personal spell book he didn't have to explain it because he already knew what they all meant. I did these six spells. And something strange is happening to me," she said. As she spoke she attached a sticky note flag to the spells she had used. "I don't know what I did wrong. Why don't you read the spells and I'll get you that piece of pecan?"

Dean looked at the spells. There was a harmless looking one on financial security, and one on home protection that seemed fine. She'd also done one that was supposed to give the person doing the spell charm, and the obligatory love spell. "Dude, Benny had a love spell in here? The big sap," he muttered. The fifth was the protection spell, and the last one was likely the source of all the problems.

It was a spell to summon an ancestor for help and advice. He could imagine who she'd summoned.

He smiled uncertainly when she set the pie down and took away his empty sandwich plate. She'd brought him a second beer, too. "You did this spell? Whose image did you stare at as you did the spell?" he asked.

"Who do you think?" she asked. She reached over and took a picture out of the back of the spell book.

It was Benny and a woman, likely his human wife. It was weird seeing him looking all olden-timey.

"You tried to summon Benny's soul. What happened?"

"It was weird. It felt like Roy—Benny—was standing right next to me. I could smell that ratty old wool coat of his, and his sandalwood cologne. It felt like he was wrapped all around me, like a hug, and then I didn't feel anything. But there was something alien inside of me, and every once and a while it sort of—I don't know—directs me. I feel this pull one way over another. Do you think that's the normal consequence of the spell? Do you think he just hangs around in my head telling me what to do?" she asked.

"Would that be so bad? I mean, you're able to overcome his suggestions, right? He doesn't determine what you do, does he?" Dean asked.

Elizabeth looked away from him, declining to answer. Dean picked up the pie and gave it a try. It was melt-in-your-mouth delicious and he had trouble not moaning and groaning his delight—but he managed to stay neutral, remembering Sam's stories about his how gross he sounded while he enjoyed food.

"Why did you call?" Dean asked.

"Well, it's like you said. I couldn't help it. _He_ called you. I mean, I choose the words, but he made me call you. I'd even deleted your phone number, but he had it memorized and he punched it in my phone. I'm not really sure what's so terrible about him being in my head—but maybe it's horrible for him. Or maybe it's bad for me. I know it was a nudge—just a nudge—for the first week. In the second week Benny's influence was more of a compulsion. I have a feeling he's getting stronger. I think he wants you to get him out of me. I've read the book back to front, and I don't know how to do it. Until you pointed out that specific spell, I wasn't even sure it was that spell that was making my behaviour strange."

"Can you talk to him at all?" Dean asked.

"Not really. It's more like these nudges—or like losing control. I'm aware of doing things, but I'm not doing them because I want to," she said.

Dean looked at the spell she'd used and had a suspicion he knew how to get Benny out of her—and out of Purgatory, too.

But if he could, he'd ask Benny first. After all, he didn't want to hurt Elizabeth, and he didn't know if his plan would hurt her. It hadn't hurt him, but the circumstances had been different. He wondered if he could hypnotize her or get a witchdoctor to put her in a trance or something so he could talk to Benny directly. This was the kind of thing he always would have gone to Bobby about. Despite making peace with Garth over his emulation of Bobby, he couldn't bring himself to ask the guy for advice.

"I'm pretty sure I know what to do, but I want to see if I can talk to Benny, first," Dean said. "We'll see who we can find to help us tomorrow. You don't know any psychics, do you?"

"No," she said. "This is Louisiana, though. There's lots of fortune tellers and psychics around. I can ask some friends if they've ever heard of one who seems authentic."

"We'll get started in the morning," Dean said.

Elizabeth offered to make up the sofa but Dean declined. He stretched out and dozed, wondering if he was right about how to separate Benny's soul from Elizabeth.

He hoped so, because it would mean getting Benny back. More than anything he wanted make up for being a bad friend to Benny. Sam didn't care if he was friends with Benny anymore, so he could actually be there for the guy this time.

He hoped that would make a difference to the vampire, and he'd be able to stick around this time.


	3. Chapter 3

Around ten, one of Elizabeth's friends texted her back with the name of a psychic who was apparently well-known for being authentic. Dean had no idea if that would mean that the psychic would be able to communicate with Benny. He imagined ghost possession was not something psychics saw every day, and he hoped that she would be able to help.

They pulled up to the psychic's home—a small bungalow with a huge willow out front and well-tended gardens—about an hour later. The psychic didn't maintain an office or a storefront, but was well-known in the community for giving accurate predictions and fortunes.

She answered the door looking like an average housewife, which was what Elizabeth's friend had said she was. "Hi, I'm Daisy," she said. Dean and Elizabeth introduced themselves, too.

She invited them in and the three of them sat in her old-fashioned kitchen. Daisy was a pretty Latino woman of about forty and looked a little frazzled. There were vegetables half-cut on the countertop.

"Sorry if we interrupted," Elizabeth said sheepishly.

"Oh, it's alright. I just can't leave the veggies too long or they'll go brown. You need your fortune told, do you?"

"Actually, we need something a bit more exotic than that. Elizabeth summoned the soul of her great-grandfather, and we think he's in her body controlling her actions. We wondered if there was any way that you could put her in a trance or do a séance or summon him or something. I'd like to talk to him, if I could. He was the one who wrote the spell she used, so I want to make sure the spell I want to use to reverse it won't hurt her."

Daisy looked at Dean sternly, as though she suspected some joke. "Are you shitting me?" she finally said.

"No. She has a soul or consciousness in her and I need to talk to it—him—if you can," Dean said.

Daisy sighed. "I'm going to need some things. I'll make you a list. You might have to go into New Orleans to get them. I need to finish up this stew before I get started."

Dean looked at the list. "I've got most of this in the Impala. I think I'll have to go to into your local grocery store for some of it, but the rarer stuff I keep on hand for emergencies."

Daisy shrugged and gave Dean directions. Elizabeth came with him.

"She seems to know what she's doing," Elizabeth commented.

"Yeah, I think we lucked out," he said. He glanced at Elizabeth as the Impala wove through traffic. "Don't look so worried. I'm sure it'll all be fine."

They did their shopping and came back to Daisy's house. Elizabeth took the groceries into the house, and Dean took out the supplies he would need from the trunk.

The kitchen looked very different when Dean came in again. There was a black velvet tablecloth on the table, red and purple candles lit, and there were blackout shades on the windows. The stew appeared to be finished and bubbling in the slow cooker, which made Dean momentarily wonder if a husband and children would be returning after school and work, but he couldn't imagine what that family would look or act like. He chuckled lightly as he laid out the materials.

"Something funny?" Elizabeth murmured.

"Nah," Dean said.

Daisy produced a mortar and pestle and started grinding up herbs and the other ingredients. She motioned for Elizabeth and Dean to sit, and they did. She lit the ingredients on fire, and then sat down and motioned for everyone to join hands, and then she blew on the ashes.

"What's the name of the soul?" she asked.

"Benny Lafitte," Dean said.

"I call Benny Lafitte. Come to the surface. Elizabeth, do you consent for him to use your body to talk to Dean?"

"Yeah," she said. She looked really scared, and Dean felt for her. Daisy probably thought she was more accustomed to the supernatural than she was because of Dean's competency, and she wasn't explaining things very well. He squeezed her hand comfortingly.

"Benny are you with us?"

"I'm here, sugar," Elizabeth said. Although her accent was similar, her voice was—not deeper, but smoother, somehow. Dean sighed in relief.

"Your friend Dean wants to talk to you," Daisy said.

"About time, brother," Benny said through Elizabeth's lips.

"Do you know how this happened?" Dean asked.

"All I know is I'm getting stronger. I don't mean to take over and I do. I knew you'd be able to help her so I made her call you. You gotta get me out of here before it hurts her," Benny said.

"It was the ancestor summoning spell from your spell book. I want to know if the spell I used when we came back from Purgatory would work again. Would it reanimate you, and would she be safe if that's what we did?" Dean asked.

Benny paused. "I don't know if I want to come back there, Dean. I had my fill of topside…but I don't know another way get out of here, and you probably won't dump my soul in a ditch now anymore than you would back then. The spell you're talking about should have worn off and sent me back where I came from in a couple of hours. Either she did something wrong, or the fact that I've been contained in someone's body before messed it all up."

"So you think it'll be safe to do what we did before?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, boss. I appreciate this," Benny said.

"See you soon," Dean said. He nodded to Daisy, and she closed her eyes.

"I'm calling Elizabeth back. Elizabeth, take control of your body back. Come back to us, sweetie."

Dean was relieved when she nodded as though falling asleep and then looked around, "I'm here. I don't remember what happened," she said.

"I'll fill you in in the car. What do I owe you?" he asked Daisy.

"You're a hunter, right?" she asked.

He nodded.

"I'd like a favour. Not now—I'd like you to owe me a favour, and to come here without question as soon as you can if I ever call you," she said.

"You got it," he said. He wrote down a couple of his numbers, and then gave her Garth's. "If you can't get a hold of me, call Garth. He'll know where I am."

As they drove, Dean let Elizabeth in on the news that he knew how to help her. She was relieved, until Dean said grimly. "Um, I know what to do, and that's the good news. The bad news is that we have to dig up Benny's body, and it's in Maine."

"It's in Maine?" Elizabeth repeated. "I guess we ought to fly out there and get this done, but I'll have to close the grill down. I don't have anyone to cover for me."

Dean shuddered. "I don't fly. It won't take that much longer to drive. And we might have to go to Kansas afterwards."

"It's gotta take at least two days of driving to get to Maine," Elizabeth said. "It probably takes a couple of hours in a plane. And Kansas is just as far. That's another two days—and one to get back here. I have a job, Dean. I can't just leave my job and my life for a week."

"You're going to have to. Benny can't get on a plane because he's a damned vampire, and you're crazy if you think I'm going to take you to his grave to reanimate his corpse and just leave him there by the side of the road. And speaking of leaving things by the side of the road, I can't leave my car here. There's no way," Dean said.

"But Dean, it doesn't make any sense," she argued.

"Have you seen the trunk of this car? There's weapons and stuff in there I need. And I don't know if any of the ID I'm carrying would pass muster at an airport. I can't just jump on a plane. Consider it a holiday. You get to see America," Dean said, smiling slightly.

"Oh yeah, a holiday with a guy I hardly know stuck in a car for days at a time," she said, her tone sarcastic.

"I don't know what to tell you. It's the only thing we can do. No one else is coming to help you. You should be grateful for this chance—or maybe you_ want_ Benny to take over your body. I don't know if I could still be friends with him if he looked like you. I might come onto him, and that would be awkward," Dean said.

"I don't want Benny to take over my body. I'm sorry if I sound ungrateful. I know this has to be done. I just—it's weird. _He_ called you, not me. I trust you—really I do—but I wouldn't have even thought of you. I met you twice. I knew you knew Benny, but I didn't know you knew about all this stuff. It's strange for me to put myself in your hands like this and just trust you," she said.

"We need to pack and get on the road. We've got about thirty hours of driving ahead of us," Dean said. "And I need to find my favourite cassette tape."

Elizabeth looked at him strangely and left him to it. In a short time he found the tape and put it in the deck. He ran up the stairs and found the door unlocked.

"I'm just going to call my brother and we can go. You ready?"

"I'll be ready after your call," she said from the other room.

Dean dialed Sam's number.

Sam picked up after a few rings. "Dean? Is everything alright? Are you on your way home?"

"I'm fine. I have to go up to Maine—and then I'm bringing Elizabeth there. She's trustworthy, don't worry. And when we get to the bunker…Hopefully we'll have Benny with us."

"Benny? Dean, you heard what I said when I said he wanted to be in Purgatory, right? I mean, I don't hate the guy, how could I, after what he did? But he stayed there on purpose, so if you went there he might not even want to come with you. You can't risk your life going to Purgatory for a guy who doesn't want out. I don't even know if he's still there because he was being attacked when—"

"—Sam, I've already got his soul. And before you get all huffy about it, it wasn't me who got it topside. It was kind of an accident. The only way to help Elizabeth is to reanimate Benny, so I gotta go to Maine. Anyway, I wasn't calling for your approval. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay there." There was silence on the Sam's end. "Sam? Everything okay?"

"Yeah. I—Cas is here. And he's human. But, I mean, I don't think there's anything we can do about it, you know? And he knows what happened to make the angels fall. He was there. It was Metatron," Sam said.

"Seriously? I knew the guy was a dick, but I never thought he was the one who did it. How did Cas know about it?"

"I'll let him tell you when you get here. Hurry back," Sam said.

"Okay. Hey, how you feeling?"

"I'm doing a lot better, Dean. Try not to worry about me," Sam said.

"Okay. Take care," Dean said, and he hung up.

"Can we stop by the grill and put a sign on the door?" Elizabeth asked.

"Sure. Ready to hit the road?" Dean asked.

"Ready," she said.

**A/N: I am pretty sure Benny's body is not in any specific place that they've said. It is implied that Dean buried it either in the forest in Maine, or somewhere close by, so I went with that. If anyone knows differently, let me know.**


	4. Chapter 4

Elizabeth was quiet on the drive, and strangely tolerant of Dean's rock music. Or maybe Sam was just strangely intolerant? It was the best music ever, after all. They had to stop fairly often to stretch their legs because she wasn't used to long car rides, and she was done in by nine o'clock that night.

"I thought you wanted to get this over with?" Dean said as he pulled the Impala into a seedy motel.

"I need a shower, and some dinner, and a good night's sleep," she said.

Dean shrugged. He knew Benny was worried about his descendent getting stuck with his presence permanently, but he wasn't about to argue with the woman about taking their time. The fact that she _didn't_ want to drive all night was actually proof that she was still in control, because Benny would definitely be arguing the opposite.

They got one room with two double beds, just like he and Sam usually did. Elizabeth might have felt a little awkward sleeping in the same room with a strange man, but she seemed to get over it fairly quickly if her snoring all night was any indication.

They were on the road early the next morning, McBreakfasts in hand. Dean was determined to get the majority of the driving out of the way that day—possibly getting in sixteen hours if Elizabeth could handle it. She seemed to be more determined to get there quickly that day—at every stop she zipped in and out of service stations and was actually more eager than Dean, who was driving, to eat on the run.

Elizabeth even noticed that he was dragging his ass a bit. "I thought you were in a hurry. If you're getting tired, I could drive this beast for a while."

"Don't call her that," Dean said, stroking his Baby's dash, "she's sensitive."

"You gonna let me drive her or not?" she asked.

"Not," Dean said firmly.

"Would you let Benny drive her? Is this like a sexist thing?" she asked.

"I barely let my brother drive her, and she's nearly as much his as mine. I mean, she's definitely mine, but he has just as much reason to love and appreciate her as I do. I might like Benny drive her, if it was somehow necessary, but that has more to do with me trusting him with my life than him being a guy. I'd probably let my friend Charlie drive her—and don't give me that look, Charlie is a woman," he said. He paused. "Although maybe not. I trust her, but something about Charlie screams 'bad driver' to me."

"So you don't trust me?" she asked.

"I don't _not_ trust you," he said. "Do you trust me? Would you give me every possession you own and care about to hold on to for a few hours?"

She looked at him oddly. "Um, we don't know each other that well."

"That's what my car is to me. She's everything I own, need, and care about. She's my photo albums, my family home, my first apartment, my first aid kit and home protection…she's not just a car. Besides, I can do a twenty hour drive without much trouble. By the time I'm tired, you'll be exhausted, just from being a passenger."

Elizabeth smiled, somehow cheered by this. "So I get to just stare out the window at America passing by, riding in a classic car, listening to classic rock with a hot guy completely guilt free?"

"That's what I've been telling you," Dean said.

Elizabeth didn't say anything for a while, and then just when Dean was about to suggest they crank some Zeppelin, she started talking again. "How did a guy like you get to be friends with Benny?" she asked.

"You mean, a hunter?" Dean asked. He'd told her what a hunter was on the drive the previous day. She nodded. "I hunt things that are hurting people. I don't consider myself to be a genocidal maniac. If there was a Wendigo in the middle of the woods that only ate bears and deer, I would just let it be. Benny is actually not the first vampire I've been acquainted with who I didn't hunt. There's actually some groups of vampires who live off of animal blood. I've met other monsters who weren't hurting anyone who I've let go—I've even protected them from other hunters. Sometimes—a lot of the time—it's humans who are really scary."

"But how did you meet?" she asked. "Were you hunting him and found out he was a good guy?"

Dean looked over at her. Well, it would make the miles go by. "It's kind of a weird story," he began, and proceeded to tell her.

"So you're actually going to resurrect him for the _second time_ from the dead?" she asked at the end.

"It's not as weird as it sounds, at least not in my line of work," Dean said.

They managed about fifteen hours of driving, so were probably looking at a solid ten the next day, unless driving conditions were amazing. Dean found that he was getting used to Elizabeth as a companion—she wasn't so bad, after a while.

By the time they pulled up to Benny's grave site, in fact, Dean considered her a friend.

She really wasn't in Sam's league, though, when it came to grave digging. Dean felt like he was doing the entire thing himself, even though she took a turn. By the time Benny's body was revealed, though, she could barely stand near it.

"Geez, Benny, you reek," Dean said to the corpse.

"So what do I do?" Elizabeth said.

Dean got out a knife from his belt and told her, "I'm going to have to cut your hand, actually pretty deep. The blood drips on his body, and you say the words I made you memorize."

"That's it?" she asked.

"Unless it doesn't work. Then we're back to square one."

"Okay. Cut me," she said. She held up her hand, palm up. Dean made a cut deep enough to bleed freely, and then positioned her hand over the grave so the blood fell on the body.

Elizabeth said the words, quite well, actually, and then Benny was there, standing beside them.

"Hey, Lizzie," Benny said. She jumped into his arms and hugged him.

Dean felt awkward. He wanted to apologize to his friend for making life unbearable for him—or more accurately, for not trying to help him when he was finding life unbearable—but he didn't want to embarrass him around Elizabeth, and he also didn't want to come right out and say _sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me_. It was what Benny would do—he was the most straightforward person Dean had ever known. He just came right out and said things, even, or sometimes especially, when they made him look bad. But Dean said nothing, because it just didn't seem to be the right time.

Benny stepped away from Elizabeth and cricked his neck. "You good?" Dean asked.

"I'm fine, and so is Lizzie. Thanks for coming to our rescue, brother," he said. He placed a hand on Dean's forearm and Dean leaned in to give his friend a hug.

"I missed you," Dean said as he pulled away.

Benny looked surprised at his words. "We weren't exactly seeing a lot of each other when I died," Benny said.

"That's going to change this time. I'm going to be around a lot more. In fact, we're going to go on a little trip—just the three of us," Dean said.

Benny looked puzzled. "Don't you need to be getting back to the grill?" he asked Elizabeth.

Elizabeth looked guilty and turned to Dean. "You think you could explain it? I feel like enough of a moron as it is."

"Sure. Actually, let's go find a motel and clean up and order some food or something. It's a crime that the guy who just stepped out of his grave looks cleaner than the two of us," Dean said.

They couldn't get a motel room with three beds so they got one with two queens and determined that Dean and Benny would share. Dean took the first shower, quickly getting rid of the dust and dirt of the gravesite, and then Elizabeth took a more leisurely shower and Dean took the time to explain what had happened with Elizabeth and the demon dedication, and also that he had a demon locked up in his dungeon at home.

"Did you use that spell? Is there some way out of it?" Dean asked.

Benny shook his head. "I never did it. It seemed a bit real, to me, you know? I used spells with flash that I could profit off of. I was kind of a showman, more like a magician than a witch, although I did some real magic, too."

"Like the spell Elizabeth's mother told her about that helped hide a man's soul from Hell Hounds?" Dean asked, referring to a story Elizabeth had told him.

"That's the one we used to get my soul in your arm. It's been kind of handy, just lately. I did some weather spells, too. You know, for people who paid the bills," Benny said. "It was probably my reluctance to do magic for free that got me run out of town."

"Maybe you could stay at the bunker a while and check out their magic resources for us. Sam and I can do magic when we have to, but we're not really experts. Bobby was an expert, and we haven't really had someone to ask about magical stuff since he died."

"I met him, you know. He wasn't too keen on you being friends with a vampire," Benny said.

"Sam didn't mention that," Dean said.

"Sam was probably too busy trying to forget the man telling him off about not trying to rescue you," Benny said.

Dean smiled, imagining what Bobby would have said about that.

"You just happen to have a demon locked in your basement, huh?" Benny asked.

Dean grinned. "No house is complete without one. And this guy used to be the king of hell."

"Well, I don't know how long I'm going to stick around these parts, but I gotta meet the former king of hell," Benny said.

Dean recognized this as the opportunity he had been waiting for to talk to Benny about the fact that he had decided to go back to Purgatory.

"Benny, it's not going to be the same way this time. I swear it won't. I'll be there for you this time. Sam doesn't have any problem with it. If I really do help you keep on the straight and narrow, then hopefully it'll be a lot easier for you this time," Dean said.

"Dean, I'm not your responsibility. My cravings for blood aren't anything to do with you, and I don't want to be a burden," he said.

"Benny, you're my friend, and I owe it to you and to myself to be a better friend to you. I should have helped you. I'm really sorry I didn't do better," Dean said.

"You and that friendship thing. I should have known you'd feel guilty about me staying behind. I just didn't fit up here. It wasn't because of anything you did or didn't do. I asked you for help, but even if you'd given it, I might still have made the same choice," Benny said.

"Just give me a chance. See if we can find a place for the both of us," Dean said.

"You don't fit in?" Benny asked doubtfully.

"I know I seem like the model of human perfection, here, Benny, but I have more in common with _you_ than with most people. I've been to Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. I know more about monsters than reality show contestants. I've worked at exactly one real job for about a year and it just about killed me. I feel more at home in a motel I've never been to than a house, even if I live in that house for months. Sam's always talking about this normal, apple pie life…but my life _is_ normal, for me. So I don't exactly fit in any of the grooves, either. I don't know if you hunting is exactly practical, because if we ran into any other hunters they'd try to cut your head off…but then, other hunters used to try to kill Sam all the time. We can find something for you."

"It mean that much to you that I stay?" Benny asked.

"Absolutely."

"Then I'll stay here," Benny said simply.


	5. Chapter 5

Dean felt for Benny. The guy was twitchy and not used to sleeping in a bed, but with his descendent lying calmly in bed he couldn't go out and get drunk or start a fight, or whatever he normally would have done to feel normal after being ripped out of an eternal battleground. Dean was doing research on the computer, still finding it difficult to sleep as long as Elizabeth seemed to find necessary, and Benny was tossing and turning—and trying not to jump at the slightest noise.

Luckily Elizabeth wasn't a light sleeper.

The next morning they started driving. Dean realized that Benny probably hadn't heard, or been properly introduced, to some of the greatest albums of all time. This led to a flurry of rock-lectures, and even a stop at a used record store that sold tapes. Dean made sure Elizabeth kept her selection classic, because he didn't want any soft rock garbage profaning his Baby, and Benny tolerated their attempts to educate him.

Dean was disconcerted when Benny liked Pink Floyd better than Led Zeppelin, but he made peace with the fact after he realized that at least it was better than the Beach Boys, which had been Benny's previous favourite.

For the most part the drive passed without incident.

Benny seemed to be adjusting to life topside a lot better than Dean remembered himself going through the process. But then Benny had Elizabeth and Dean, and Dean had just been hiding out in a cabin in the woods hoping for Sam to answer his damned phone.

By the time they reached Akron, Ohio, even Dean was ready to stop. Elizabeth was oddly quiet—and for all he liked the girl, Dean could acknowledge that she was hardly the type to take suffering quietly. Her body had to be aching after almost thirteen hours of sitting in the backseat of the car, and yet she seemed completely nonchalant about it. Either she was adjusting to life on the road better than anyone ever, or something else was happening.

Dean watched her closely at dinner.

They went out for pizza. Dean and Elizabeth ate hardily, and Benny did a good enough impression of eating to pass for anyone who was watching.

"This must be the first time you've been away from the diner since you took it over," Dean commented.

Elizabeth looked at Benny. "That's the business, right Benny?"

Something about the way she was talking didn't sit right with Dean, but he didn't want to confront her in public—not if what he thought was going on was really going on.

They made small talk and then headed back to the hotel.

"I'm going to jump in the shower," Elizabeth said.

Dean sat calmly until he heard the water running and then hurried out to the car. He got some spray paint and went back into the hotel room.

"What are you doing, Dean?" Benny asked.

"Shut up and help me move this bed," Dean said.

Miraculously, Benny did. Dean painted a pentagram on the floor and then moved the bed back over it. He sat on the other bed and waited.

"You think she's possessed?" Benny asked.

Dean noted how worried Benny looked. He was a guy who had seemed unworried and unaffected by even the most traumatic things that happened to them in Purgatory—who had laughed off being almost torn apart by his former vampirate pals. The worried expression didn't look right on his face. "I hope I'm wrong, believe me," he said.

"I don't get it. Yeah, she seemed off at dinner, but it's been quite a week for her. Is it really…could she really be…"

"We'll find out soon enough. Just relax, okay? It's just…my instincts just tell me…but I could be wrong. A life like mine, sometimes you think the worst. But this isn't really the worst, okay? If she's possessed, we'll handle it. Not like it's the first time I've ever done an exorcism," Dean said. He reached into his pack to get some holy water.

"You know you're a bit of a scary guy, Dean," Benny said.

"Says the vampire," Dean muttered. "I know what I'm doing. Demons may seem pretty scary, hell, they _are _pretty scary—but they have to follow certain rules just like everybody else. Just put on the TV and let me handle this."

"You ain't gonna hurt her, are you?" Benny asked.

"Not any more than I have to," Dean said. He wished he'd had the foresight to get rid of Benny and handle this on his own. It was stupid to think that Benny would just let him exorcise—torture—his descendent. Yeah, Benny trusted Dean a lot and would to anything for him, but he wouldn't let_ anyone_ hurt a girl he considered family. And how exactly would Dean do an exorcism in a hotel? There'd be yelling and screaming, and someone would call the cops for sure. He'd have to take her somewhere, and it wasn't likely that Benny would let him lock her in the trunk of the car.

Dean just hoped he was wrong.

When Elizabeth came out of the bathroom dressed in her pajamas, she seemed completely normal, flopping down on the bed and smiling at the men. "Well, the sooner we go to bed, the sooner we get up and get this over with, right?" she said.

"Yeah. Christo," Dean said.

Her eyes went black, and the demon gave up all pretense of being Elizabeth. "Leave me alone, Winchester. This one gave herself to me."

"Do I know you?" Dean asked unemotionally.

"No, but every demon in hell knows _you_. Great at starting apocalypses, but you've got no follow through. And you helped that asshole Crowley grab hold of the reigns of hell—but I guess he's okay. I mean, he's a jerk, but he's efficient. Anyway, she _asked_ for this. The ritual's pretty clear. I think me and my hot new bod are going to get out of here," she said—but of course, she couldn't move off the bed. "Shit, a pentagram? You're killing me, Dean."

"I just hope it doesn't come to that," Dean said, his eyes narrow.

"You won't use your demon killing knife, not while I'm in your little friend's substitute daughter. Not if you don't want to be vampire food," she laughed.

"Dean—" Benny began.

"Relax, Benny. Trust me. I won't hurt her. But we've got to get her out of here. The safest way is to put her in the trunk of the Impala. It's warded," Dean said.

"But Elizabeth—"

"—She's already locked up, in her own body, by a demon. You wanna help her get free, you do as I say. Come on, Benny. You called me to handle this. So let me handle it," Dean said.

"Shit, brother. What do you want me to do?" Benny asked. His voice still sounded aggravated, but he almost sounded resigned, too, like he was too worried to think for himself and was letting Dean do his thinking for him. That, Dean could work with.

"I'm going to pack up our shit. You take her and put her in the car. You're gonna drive," Dean said.

He packed everything up and piled it in the back seat of the Impala. He threw the keys to Benny and Benny unceremoniously lifted Elizabeth into his arms. "Sorry about this, Lizzie," he murmured.

The demon started yelling obscenities, and Dean found a rag to stuff in her mouth. "Take that out of her mouth before you shut her in. We don't want Elizabeth to choke."

He looked out the door and saw no one around. "Bring her," he told Benny.

When they were on the road Benny kept on glancing at Dean. "Well? What are we going to do? Where are we going?" he asked.

"I'm working on it. Just keep driving. I'm on the internet on my phone trying to find a foreclosure or an abandoned house on the way…we need somewhere with a basement, or soundproofing…or somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. A lot of the time you see abandoned houses on a lonely stretch of highway…but they're hard to see in the dark," Dean said.

"We can't take her to the bunker like this?"

"I'd rather get that demon out of her. But after she did the dedication…I don't know how to undo that. The demon might just come back. Besides, I don't really want to take some random demon to the bunker and let it know we have Crowley. That could really backfire on us," Dean said. "It would be okay if we could kill it, but we can't kill the demon without killing Elizabeth."

"So we have to do an exorcism," Benny said.

"Yep. They ain't pretty, but they're effective."

"Don't people sometimes die during exorcisms?"

"Benny, demons can keep a body alive long after it should have died. They ride human bodies hard. When the demon goes, all those injuries catch up to them. This one demon, Meg, we pushed her out a window, and then when we exorcized her from that body later, she died from the fall. And this was ages later. This demon hasn't done anything to Elizabeth, so she'll be fine when we push the demon out," Dean said.

"Fine if you consider being possessed by two separate entities in as many days fine. Hell, Dean, I went to the girl to protect her, and I got her into one mess after another. I should have stayed away," Benny said.

"Don't think about that now. Guilt won't help. Just drive. We've got to handle this, and then we'll worry about how traumatized she is. But you know, you'd be surprised. Lots of people go through crazy shit and they just keep on truckin," Dean said.

"And then lots of_ other_ people end up like that hunter Martin," Benny scowled.

"Can you help me out here and not think worst case scenario? We'll get this done, together. Just like always. I'm here for you, okay? Let me handle this," Dean said.

"Have I thanked you lately for helping me with this mess?" Benny asked.

Dean looked over at his friend. For a moment some of Benny's wry suavity seemed to have returned. "I'm good at cleaning up messes like these. Just let me handle it. Promise me you'll trust me. Don't get in my way."

"I promise," Benny said.

Dean wished he could believe Benny, but he knew his friend. Dean knew better than anyone what it was like when someone was hurting a member of his family, and he couldn't discount the fact that before this exorcism was over, Benny could be his enemy. Something could go wrong—or he could somehow hurt Elizabeth and Benny would never forgive him.

Dean didn't want to be in a situation where he was fighting a demon in a girl he didn't want to hurt and a vampire he wanted to hurt even less.

Something told Dean the night, which had started out badly, was about to get a lot worse.


	6. Chapter 6

Dean directed Benny to a grassed-in driveway on the right side of the highway. It was still dark out, but there was only a couple of hours until dawn. The house, a ranch-style brick house with a wrap-around porch, was abandoned but not ramshackle–it had been foreclosed several months before and there were no neighbours nearby.

Benny couldn't seem to believe that Dean really meant it when he said that they would leave Elizabeth in the trunk of the car while they got everything ready. The chains and equipment that were usually kept in the trunk had already been transferred to the backseat so they would have easy access, and so Elizabeth would be more comfortable.

"What if she smothers in there?" he asked.

Dean didn't bother to point out that they'd been driving for hours with her locked in the trunk; it was obvious from her yelling and pounding that she was just fine. He looked at Benny pointedly, "You think this is the first time I've locked a demon in the trunk of my car?"

"I reckon that it's not, not by a long shot," Benny said. He looked at his friend grimly. "You ever done an exorcism on family?"

"I've done an exorcism on Sam. And I've seen nearly everyone else I care about taken over by demons. I don't do this lightly. And I _do_ know what I'm doing," Dean said.

"I just can't stand to see Lizzie like this," Benny said.

"Benny, you really should go. I mean, as soon as we've got everything set up–the devil trap and some way to chain her down–I'd like you to just take off for a while," Dean said.

"Why? You going to do things to her I wouldn't enjoy seeing?"

"I'm going to do what needs to be done, and I'd rather not have to fight with an angry vampire on top of an angry demon. I promise you, I won't kill her. I'll do my level best not to even hurt her," Dean said.

"I've seen you torture things, Dean. I know you don't exactly mind causing pain," Benny said dryly.

Dean felt a stab of hurt at that. Yes, he'd been a torturer in hell. Yes, he still tortured people and monsters when he had to.

But, no, he didn't do it for fun. And he didn't enjoy hurting innocent people, no matter how much he enjoyed hurting the guilty ones. For a moment he felt as though Benny had betrayed him—used his trust against him because he knew Dean enjoyed torture more than anyone should—but he tried to push the feeling away. For one thing, Benny was a vampire and had no room to judge Dean. Secondly, Benny was only trying to protect his family. If there was one thing that Dean could understand, it was the instinct to protect family. Anything Benny said or did in that context was understandable to Dean.

But it still hurt.

"I don't need any information from this demon. I just want it gone. It's probably not nearly as strong as the demons I usually deal with. Quick and easy," Dean said. His voice was terse.

"So why do I need to leave, then?"

"The demon will try to make you think I'm hurting Elizabeth so you'll stop the exorcism, but she won't be in any real pain from that. Mostly people talk about hating the fact that the demon uses their body to do bad things, and degrades them by making their body do things they don't want it to–like unprotected sex with gross strangers or robbing a bank with security cameras or saying terrible things to the people closest to them," Dean said pointedly. He shouldn't have to justify exorcising a demon, and his tone made that clear.

"I'm sorry Dean. I know this is necessary. I know I'm being impossible."

"Will you just walk away, and trust me to handle this? You don't have to leave the property. Just leave the house for a while, and I'll handle it. I honestly think it won't take too long."

"Okay. Sorry for being so–just, sorry," Benny said. "I'm glad you're here, brother."  
Dean nodded.

He hoped he wouldn't have to do anything drastic to demon-proof Elizabeth, like brand her. He planned on making her wear a charm until they could get her a tattoo, and he hoped that would be enough.

When he'd prepared the room—including chains on a metal chair which was now screwed to the floor and a devil's trap on the floor and ceiling—he asked Benny to go get Elizabeth and bring her to the room. When he reappeared in the doorway with Elizabeth in his arms, Dean was thankful that he wasn't the one carrying her. She was screaming and clawing at Benny, struggling all the while. With his vampire strength, it didn't appear to be a chore for Benny to hold her, but the look on his face was pained.

Once Elizabeth was manacled into the chains securely Benny pocketed the key and then looked at Dean uncertainly. "I guess I'll get out of your hair," he said. He didn't sound as though he really wanted to leave.

"We'll be okay, Benny, Lizzie and I," Dean said.

"Don't leave me here, Roy. The demon told me all the things Dean did in hell. I'm not safe with him. He'll hurt me—he might even rape me. Why do you think he needs chains in a demon trap? He wants me so he can get at me without me being about to defend myself. Please, Roy, don't go," she said.

She was crying pathetically, but Benny didn't look at her. "Take care of my girl, alright, brother?"

Dean nodded, and Benny left the room.

"Isn't that sweet? You and the vampire must trust each other. I guess all that stuff Lisa thought when she was possessed—you know that stuff got spread around hell, didn't you? For a while everyone was talking about you being a bad boyfriend. But if you're good to your boyfriend, maybe it was just sour grapes. Or maybe you just couldn't make it work with a girl. How long did it take for you to give it up? Does your brother know you take it up the ass from a vampire?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "What do you want me to do, get mad and stab you? Sorry to disappoint, but I don't exactly care about your opinion."

"Maybe I just want to get my digs in before you send me back to hell," the demon said. "You're every demon's punching bag, just like your mom. We use that woman in so many weird and wonderful ways…hhhmmm. Just thinking about it makes my toes curl."

Dean had had just about enough of this demon. He refused to believe that his mother's spirit was in hell. That hadn't been her deal, and he knew souls of ghost could go to heaven because of Bobby. He threw some holy water on Elizabeth and began to recite, "_Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus,_ _omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii,_ _omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica._ _Ergo, draco maledicte._ _Ecclesiam tuam securi tibi facias libertate servire,_ _te rogamus, audi nos._"

She tried to scream and interrupt, but he finished the exorcism and the demon left her body in a puff of smoke.

Elizabeth was sweating and panting as though she'd run a marathon. "Oh, thank god, Dean. You don't know how it feels having a demon inside of you. It was nothing like having Roy—I mean Benny—possess me. It was so dirty. Filthy. Thank god you were here."

Dean called Benny on his phone. "It's done. Told you it would be fast."

Benny didn't reply, but soon Dean heard his feet on the porch, and then he was in the room, unlocking the shackles.

"Wait," Dean said. He put a silver necklace around Lizzie's neck and a charm bracelet around her wrist. "This is temporary," he said. "You're getting ink. There's no way you can get around that. I only hope it'll work after that dedication…"

Benny finished unlocking the chains and then Lizzie jumped into his arms. "Thank you. Thank you for letting him take care of the demon. You have no idea how it felt to have that thing inside me. You're so wrong that it was like having you there. Your spirit made me feel wise—protected—that thing was revolting."

"I guess I should listen to Dean when he talks about demons," Benny said.

"God, I'm so tired. I don't think I've ever been so tired. My muscles are killing me," Lizzie said.

"Why don't you curl up in the back of the Impala, and we'll start driving. We'll wake you up for breakfast, and when we get to a tattoo parlour," Dean said.

"Okay," Lizzie said, yawning and walking out to the Impala.

Dean and Benny gathered all the equipment they had used for the exorcism and loaded it in the back of the Impala. Dean found an old blanket in the trunk and threw it at Benny, who tucked it around his descendent, who was already asleep.

Dean swayed wearily. "I think I'd rather you drive. I'm actually really tired, too. If you're tired we can stop at a motel. Or you can drive until midmorning and we can get breakfast—well," Dean amended, "Lizzie and I can. How are your blood stores holding out?"

"I have a few bags. I usually buy rejected blood from the blood bank. It's still tasty but they can't use because of disease or high risk behaviour by the donor."

"Why do you say you need it?" Dean asked.

"A variety of reasons. I sometimes say I work for a rich lady who thinks bathing in blood will keep her looking young. Sometimes I pretend to be a cultist or a Satanist. No one really cares why I need it—not if they're corrupt enough to sell it in the first place," Benny said.

Dean chuckled a bit, wondering if Benny was telling the truth.

Dean turned to walk over to the passenger's side of the Impala, but Benny grabbed his arm.

"Brother, I should never have doubted you. I must have been crazy, thinking you'd hurt her. I…I'm sorry. I don't deserve a friend like you."

"Well, whether you deserve me or not, I'm here. I'll protect your family like they're my own—that's what you did, after all—saving Sam the way you did," Dean said.

"I guess a part of me still finds you too good to be true," Benny said. He hadn't let go of Dean's arm. "Anyway, thank you," he said. He pulled Dean towards him and they hugged tightly. Dean was sure that Sam thought that Dean didn't go in for hugs much, but Dean knew differently. Sam was actually, in Dean's experience, the more reluctant of the two of them to display affection. Dean felt himself relax in his friend's grip, feeling glad all over again that Benny was topside.

"Drive on, Jeeves," Dean said, pulling out of the hug and opening the car door, then hunkering down in the passenger side of the Impala. "Wake me if you get lost."

"Oh, I'll just head west," Benny said easily. "We'll get somewhere close to where we want to be."

If Dean found that comment disquieting, he was too sleepy to care.


End file.
